Why are people calling this rare Maserati's B.C. restoration 'criminal'?

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The top-quality restoration of a rare 1956 Maserati in Vancouver, B.C. has polarized some enthusiasts in the classic-car community, with a contingent of preservationists saying the disassembly of the survivor car amounts to “destroying history”—and with the owner directing critics to “go buy your own car.”

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The saga is centered on a 1956 Maserati A6G/54, one of just four coupes bodied by Italian coachbuilder Frua, and is expertly covered in-depth, with interviews, by The Drive. A short history of the car, chassis 2140, might plot out its origins as a display model at the Paris Auto Salon of 1956; its purchase as a lightly used vehicle in 1959, by Roger Baillon; and its being parked in a barn for two decades, until, in 2015, it was auctioned off when the then-owner, Roger’s son Jacques Baillon, passed away.

That’s when things get interesting: the car ended up being acquired for over US$2.2 million (CDN$3.81 million in 2023 Canadian dollars), twice the pre-sale estimate, by San Diego-based architect Jonathan Segal. Segal replaced the fluids and lightly tuned the car, and miraculously got it to start; after being talked out of a restoration by his friends, he instead drove and showed the car at several events, including the 2015 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where it won second place in the Postwar Preservation class, which it qualified for as an unrestored vehicle.

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Segal was ready to part with the vehicle in 2021, when he consigned it for auction via Gooding & Co., but held on to it instead after the bids fell short of what he wanted for it. He soon after found out there was an opening in the busy schedule of North Vancouver, B.C.-based RX Autoworks, and so enlisted the garage to fully restore the car, which at that point was deteriorating to the point it could have become undrive-able, Segal said. “The paint wasn’t even staying on the car anymore.”

When he started posting to Instagram images of the car’s restoration beginning in March 2023, the flood of positive comments were tempered by some critical ones that questioned why such a well-preserved, historically significant car was being done over—some likened it to “erasing an Old Master [painting] down to the base paint and then ‘restoring’ it.”

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“When we see clear evidence of taking such an intensely rare car and obliterating that preservation, that originality, it vanishes into thin air,” is how historian Tom Hale put it to The Drive. “We’re at a point in history where the preservation of these artifacts truly matters.” Others in his camp suggest Segal is hoping shiny new paint will earn the Maserati a concours trophy—and a better resale value.

Segal – himself a Maserati aficionado who has personally restored several rare examples, contracting out only the bodywork – has some robust counters to that argument. He notes chassis 2140’s grille and taillights were replaced early in its life following collisions; and, in its disassembly, has found evidence a tree may have fallen on the roof and spurred Baillon to repaint it. His goal is to take the A6G/54 back to the way it looked on the floor of the 1956 Paris Auto Salon, and then again show the car – and win – at Pebble Beach.

He says everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but has a specific recommendation for his harshest critics: “Go buy your own car.” What do you think of this Maserati undergoing an expert restoration?